Is everything okay, or did I do something wrong?
by Blergblerg the one and only
Summary: What if wrath was given a chance to bond with the Elric brothers before the later events of the story took place? How would he change, how would the world around him change? Essentially a fix-it fic some merged universe/ AU elements but mostly following 03 canon, Rated T for probable violence later on but I do not anticipate romance here.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Memories

AN: Anytime someone refers to wrath as an almond boy, or coconut boy or chestnut boy its because his armor is essentially an egg-shaped piece of wood with holes in it and in reference to his very pale complexion.

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Birth is a fascinating thing, everyone who's sees it either finds it beautiful or disgusting or both but almost none find it forgettable. Yet despite this, almost no one remembers their own birth, when I finally remembered how I came into the world I too found it to be unforgettable for better or worse.I know she does not have long, but I've lived long enough to know that for most good deeds aren't enough to grant anyone a proper remembrance (unlike those Elrics who claimed they didn't even want the spotlight despite their incredible accomplishments which would not have been possible without me! Those ungrateful high horse riding-

I was startled out of my dictating by a yell from Winry ''Wrath you dummy, you are not really going to put that crap in your biography are you?!''  
I growl back '' It's not my fault Alphonse let the both of them get mythologized, he'd let almost anyone publish any crap about them so how is this any different?!''  
She gives me one of those simultaneous heart wrenching and annoyingly earnest frowns before continuing ''Because you knew them wrath, you knew neither of them to be glory hounds...they just felt it wasn't worth upsetting anyone by harassing any publisher who may have...embellished a little bit.'''  
I grumble back  
''Fiiine but what would you suggest?''  
She sighs and a slight smile not quite reaching her eyes forms on her lips.  
''Why not just say that this is a true firsthand account?''  
I nod.

Thus I am memorializing myself on the printed page. Let us start from the beginning.

The first memories of mine are stolen and I ought to disown them, yet they cling to me. A warm pair of hands, cold stone, a mother who abandoned me to the gate smothering freezing, shadow hands, near darkness being alone in a crowd. In a sense, I became one of those...beings and was free to wander around the blood-strewn darkness for at least a decade. My first clue as to where I was, who and what I was came in a flash of light. Now I should clarify from inside the gate I had seen many streams of light before, what I later learned was the energy from t where which fed the alchemy in the world I escaped into, which shocked me as I expected to enter the other world.  
Upon first digesting information from a Chinese landscape architect I was astonished by my lack of prior knowledge and began fighting any other inhabitants of that dark realm for access to the flashes when people on mirror earth died an American kid taught me how to build shelter and English, an old German teacher taught me his language and gave me knowledge of wilderness survival, oddly enough he had a passion for the outdoors as much as the In.

A Swiss mountain-climber taught me lots of useful odds and ends...this went on for years until I learned enough to think I could survive in almost any environment, that when I started following the sources to Amestrian alchemists getting glimpses of their operations from beyond the gate.

That's when it happened, the Elrics shoved themselves into my lives. It was the first time I had actually seen, on a living face, a look of such terror or one of such determination, but by then I surmised that the only way to open the gate and escape was through alchemy. Thus I made the worst mistake of my entire life. It seemed simple enough, the gate was going to take a chunk of flesh anyway I might as well take some non-vital and useful parts before the other gate kids made it worse. I needed an alchemists touch more than the kid anyway or so I thought. I should have just taken his brother's body as a new vessel after I saw how quickly Edward whipped up a new one, but no, I was tooo dumb to try that one.  
Exiting the gate upon realizing how to tap into a crude form of alchemy was physically very easy, but that same gate always demanded a toll, I had known this for practically all of my existence from being so thoroughly in touch with that fantastically terrible and bizarre environment.

I had a once in a lifetime chance to chose that toll...and thus I lost almost all my memories. Entering Yock island and leaving behind the gate was at the time the easiest sacrifice I had ever made, give up a few useless memories like all your time in the gate, London, Vienna, the united states, the only stolen memories I needed were those on how to keep a young boy body like mine alive, finding fruit, breeding fish finding shelter and of course language even if for almost two years or so I estimate after leaving the gate I had no one to talk to except for the feral macaws on the island. They were less talkative than the later regained memories from the American kid suggested. Outside of the gate, I knew I would need food, thus my first task was making some tools for fishing and reaching the native fruits of the island.  
Even with an intuitive grasp of circle-less alchemy took me more than a few tries to turn large branches into spears and hooks. After half a days walk I came to the coast of the island, where I made my first attempts at spearfishing which if I was only a human boy would have failed many times over but with my superior reflexes and strength I... I still messed up rendering many fishes into chunks of watery gore before I could take a single nibble. Of course, it also took me a few more tries to do any of this without bonding said tools to my own arms, which was a minor annoyance. I got the hang of it eventually though and by the end of the day, I was feeling bloated.

Of course, I knew I could be more sustainable but first I would need to build a fish pond and to do that I needed to find suitably deep ground. This began my thorough examination of the island. Its center was occupied by a large rocky protrusion. somewhere between a small mountain and a large hill, the soil was rocky and shallow though, the forested portions were much more amenable to my task. Within another week after some trial and error in turning my hands into stony spades, I had a dug a large enough to fit a whole school of fish It was then that I realized filling it would be its own problem. To add in some variety for the next week I spent time harvesting the local collecting enough guavas, strawberries and a small blueish plumb like fruit native to this world to make at least four barrels of fruit wine I felt I could , by the next day, I found that the islands native rodent population had gotten to about half of them.

I was furious but I acknowledged it as a mistake on my part. I dried the rest of the fruit and stored in alchemically made stone boxes which were a bit heavy even for me, before putting these upon the highest earthen pillars I could build. I swore if I caught any thieves up their again I would adorn the pillars with their minuscule skulls.

Winry made a noise like a straining water pipe interrupting my flow of speech: ''Wrath Harnet Curtis?'' A deep look of concern crossed her face...she almost never called me by my full name except when something greatly bothered her ''I just can't help it anymore, why didn't you tell me about the mirror world until now? You knew I knew about it when Edward returned! Did you think I never wanted to know more?''  
Casting my face down and trying to keep my pained scowl as close to neutral as I could I responded  
''I thought earlier that you would either hate me...or call me a liar, later it was just too painful to have to constantly wonder if yet again I was hurting people whenever I tried to help...like always.''  
A painful silence reigned for the next few moments before for the good of all in the room being dispatched by the compassion of an old Amestrian woman.  
Winry chided' 'That's not true and you ought to know it by now! If it wasn't for you I don't know how we could have kept up with demand after the move.''  
I merely nodded and returned to the topic of the island

It was only later that I discovered that my building skills were nowhere near good enough to keep these pillars from becoming piles of mud when it rained.  
I spent the next day figuring out for myself how to make wooden buckets and afterward hauling water to my large scale but admittedly crude fish pond. This took a few days to fill and by the end of the process, I was out of edible fruit.  
Now I obviously had to return to foraging this time though I just turned my left foot into stone and kicked the trees fairly hard. This was a fantastically efficient method for gathering large quantities of sub-tropical fruit but a terrible means of ensuring any type of quality. Almost a quarter of the fruit of the fruit I got in this manner was horribly bruised if not outright smashed and nasty.

Now capturing and transferring live fish to the pond was an entirely different kind of ordeal. While I had swum short distances before entering the depths of lake Kauroy was at first a terrifying prospect luckily, I could hold my breath for quite some time. Unfortunately, that time was significantly reduced by the effort I had to spend capturing pregnant fish and filling my shoreline buckets with slippery buggers was a pain and all for some future reward, it began trying on my patience such that after I had three fish in the pond a new plan hit me like a lightning  
bolt.  
What if I left yock island? My ''brilliant'' plan was simply to swim across the lake and scout the perimeter of the forest on the other side.

It seemed so simple until it nearly bit me in the buttocks after letting my hair dry I went further inland and picked up a few interesting rocks before I had my first encounter with the beast, later I would recognize it as a chimera I just finished climbing over a short ridge when I saw below me a hulking beast at least five feet tall at the shoulder and perhaps a bit more than six feet in length. The chimera was powerfully muscled and its coat was a patchwork of colors with black hair across the shoulders stretching down on straps across its almost columnar limbs its tail as well as parts of its face were covered in orange fur but the majority of its frame was covered in a sometimes soiled but clearly once snow white pelt.  
It was then that the animal turned to face me and its head became visible it had a long, whiskered and somewhat tapered snout with a slightly under-hanging yet powerful jaw. Its mouth was covered by thick dark flexible looking lips with the very ends of massive canines protruding lightly from its corners. Those same lips curled into something approaching a grin revealing those teeth in their entirety among many more vicious looking chompers. Its ears were hairless and oddly manlike with the exception of their ability to rotate towards me. It was then that it stood up and looked me in the eye its eyes were round, orange and full of intelligence, it then began to race forward towards me and I was about to run until I heard something approaching a laugh exit those dreadful lips.

I was suddenly enraged. All creatures I had met until now had fled before me or snapped at me before retreating none had the arrogance to challenge my head on and laugh about it. It stopped laughing when my thrown rock struck it between its eyes. Then I fled as fast as I could back to the lake for even I realized I was outmatched. A few seconds after I entered the lake I heard a large splash behind and swam as fast as I could the chimera followed me almost halfway across the lake before giving up in frustration. I was exhausted and terrified for a time I just lay on the beach huddled in a ball until the pain from the sun slowly searing my skin and the hunger in my belly forced me to move. I went back to gathering fruit for a while. A few months later, late one night I heard the beasts distinctive roar followed by a sound I would later Identify as gunshots, my conclusion was that someone had dispatched the monster. My routine normalized after a few days of hiding.

However I was not quite done exploring Yock island, soon I discovered a series of caves with entrances beginning on the northern coast of the island that reached almost to its I found pools of water and some 0

dry spaces and lots of quartz crystals a few rotten planks of Wood surrounding what appeared to have been a pickaxes head let me know that someone had visited once long ago.

At any rate, things continued on like this until the Elric brothers returned to the island. It was to be the first dose of excitement I was to have in months. By that time I had started sleeping in my own artificial tree hollows and first noticed something was off when I smelled fish that I had not cooked. At that point, I had been struggling to find any more fresh fruit and my dried stocks were depleting I had begun considering trying to build traps like those I had found on the island earlier. To be frank, I was starved, so I figured I'd take a few, leave and maybe apologize latter with some dried fruit.  
At that very moment, Alphonse Elric appeared. When I first met the walking suit of armor I nearly jumped into the air. Fortunately so did he. I had scooted back almost into the forest when he called out to me in an accusatory tone'' You're naked! '' I called back ''I'm sorry!'' out prepared to bolt if he took a step closer.

The metallic boy responded ''please just stay there we don't m..mean any harm! I'll be back with some clothes!'' I was willing to wait for both because my curiosity was peaked and because I was sure I could turn the tin can into scrap metal if he tried anything funny. I asked ''Who is we? I only see one metal man and what do you mean by naked?'' as he turned walking in the other direction he called back ''I have a brother, I'm sure he could help! Also naked means you have no extra covering your skin'' he then rapidly trotted away, I tried calling back ''I don't need help'' but he was already gone.  
Seeing as how this naked thing did not sound good I quickly scampered off to the nearest tree and transmuted one of its large branches into a wooden shell that left only my eyes mouth and limbs exposed.I hoped this was what the fellow wanted.

Given the metal person's lack of objection earlier I returned to consuming the fish in front of me working from the tails upwards I got through all but the last fish when the ferrous biped returned with his shorter brother in tow. The two of them were carrying some brown fibrous robes with them. The animated Armour once more began to speak '' See brother that s...the boy'' he seemed confused by my new appearance, the shorter one shot him a puzzled look before pulling himself closer and loudly whispering"Al, I thought you said he was naked? "  
Before either of them could get another word In I excitedly shouted' 'Wow your just like me! 'I as I pointed to the shorter human.

He rubbed his head as if in pain ''Kid what are you on about?'' ''Well your the only person here that would talk to me while also having a soft mouth and teeth and not trying to eat me, and your made of flesh unlike this al fellow...oh and I'm sorry I ate your fish but I promise I'll make it up to you I-'' The blond kid held his hands up in mock surrender ''Easy kid how about you slow down and answer some questions for us?'' said the kid . Alphonse quickly added ''Like whats your name, where did you get that costume and where are you from?''  
I backed away a few steps feeling overwhelmed, luckily the two newcomers seemed to be aware of my discomfort and did not attempt to force me closer.

Their questions were Indeed puzzling'' One, I do not know, Two I made it, three I also don't know here on this island I think ..I could get you some dried fruit to make up for the fish though. Or I could take you to the fish pond''I quickly added in imitation ''What are your names?''  
The elder brother jumped at the chance to introduce himself ''I am Edward Elric, The Fullmetal Alchemist!'' his brother continued the introductions; ''And I am Alphonse Elric, also an alchemist, as well as Edwards brother'' Alphonse finished somewhat awkwardly.  
This, of course, led to more questions from me:  
''If you two are brothers how come you look so different, and what is an alchemist?''  
Alphonse in a bid to expedite things replied ''that's a long story but we can tell you about alchemy on the way okay?'' I smiled widely excited to finally make friends and learn about the world I found myself in and replied with a cheerful ''Okay then''. As we walked together towards my food store Alphonse explained ''an alchemist is someone who practices alchemy, and(correctly assuming I also was ignorant of alchemy) alchemy is the science of deconstructing and reconstructing matter using energy from tectonic movements or your body'' over the next half an our Alphonse, with some occasional jokes and interjections from his brother explained what the meant by energy and tectonic movements. Eventually, as we round a hill to reach the fruit towers I recalled my original second question. ''Wait but still how are you, two brothers?''  
After A few seconds of silence passed Edward stopped walking and grabbed Al's arm ''We ought to stop yanking almond boys chain and explain ourselves if he's stuck with us long enough he's bound to find out sooner or later.''  
Alphonse reluctantly agreed and Edward called out to me '' hey kid, stop! We'll answer your question'' I turn around and run back to him almost tripping over my mismatched feet. ''That second question you asked is of a very personal nature, we'll tell you but only if you promise to keep it private.''

I nod my head vigorously grinning like a giddy dolphin. Edward continues'' I am serious, bad men could hurt you or us if you don't!'' The grin dropped like a boulder off a cliff. ''I understand'' I reply.''We look different because Alphonse lost his body in an alchemical accident...'' I look shocked and more burning questions nearly bubble into my mouth but I held my tongue not wanting to offend my new associates that I hoped would soon be my friends. As luck good or ill would have it I did not need to ask my related questions because Alphonse decided to do so in my stead. ''...an accident that happened because we tried to resurrect our mother.'' Edward turned to him and sternly said ''Al don't you think that was excessive?'' Before an argument could break out I responded ''It is a bit excessive, I probably shouldn't know more for your sake's, I don't want to hurt anyone'' I stifle tears and trudge ahead silently.  
Finally, we reached the pillars.

For once Winry politely interrupted at a general lull in the action. ''Excuse me, but wrath I never heard of that chimera and Ed and Al were in the region so why had they never mentioned

it to me?'' I quickly responded probably because they never saw it and did not believe me when I told them about it, besides the region near Dante place was fairly remote, not many people lived there and the ones that did were not much prone to gossip''  
I was about to lean back into my chair when Winry tossed  
another question my way. ''What about the military then If they got involved like you think why wouldn't there be any internal chatter about the incident? '' I tossed my head back consumed by uproarious laughter for almost a minute. Winry looked at me with wide confused eyes as if she saw me transmute my face into a tulip. Wiping away tears and with a slight chuckle still upon my throat I replied'' You really think Bradley would have tolerated anyone leaking out that one of their laboratories lost track of a powerful and maybe even intelligent chimera like that, and that it was roaming around the countryside for days or even longer?'' Quickly answering my own rhetorical question, I continued ''I don't think so.'' Catching me by surprise Winry shot back with ''well what about the present administration then?'' This time I only chuckled, ''If you think the present administration is any better you've clearly never put in even a single Amestrian Information Request.'' I lean over to her conspiratorially and whisper ''the official line is that nonvoluntary chimeric research is now illegal and all involved in conducting such were arrested and prosecuted in the late 20's.'' Winry continued to protest ''It has been 40 years though, surely something should have come up by now?'' I smile and respond ''Exactly it has been 40 years, and nothing has come up because they cleaned thoroughly as soon as they found it.'' With a sigh Winry let the topic drop and I continued my discussion of that first day with the Elrics.

The brothers looked around clearly confused: ''I don't see any fruit here '' ed huffed, ''what are these towers?'' Alphonse questioned.  
''Your both being silly our meals are up there'' I replied. I then leaped upon one of the towers shifted into it slightly, and quickly shuffled up all 13 feet of compacted earth and stone. When I looked down I noticed that Edward was slack-jawed and Alphonse had stopped talking and being as naive as I was at the time I chalked this up to a combination of hunger and astonishment at my speed and athleticism. So I decided to feed them, or that was the intent anyway. I grabbed the first stone storage box and chucked it into the second on the opposite tower the second box fell to the gravelly ground bellow but the first ricocheted off it and flew towards Alphonse at an angle.

At that moment I realized a few crucial things A. Alphonse was at looking at Edward, B this meant Al did not see the box coming and C. I was too far away to prevent the stone box from actually hitting him. I cried out ''Look out Alphonse'' which gave him just enough time tool clap his hand together and form an alchemical ear shield. Said shied cracked and began to crumble as it absorbed the momentum of the stone box. The response from his brother was swift. ''Hey coconut kid what on earth were you trying to do?!'' yelled Edward. ''I'm sorry I was just trying to get our lunches down!'' I quickly leaped to the third tower and this time grabbed the box with only one hand before sinking into the side of the tower slightly.

I did not feel the need to grab the last box, there being more than enough in the three boxes to feed me and Edward even if I would likely still want a bit more afterwards. It was then that I noticed the brothers had moved further back and appeared to be whispering among themselves, I frowned thinking maybe they might have wanted to leave after I nearly hit Alphonse with the stone box. The two brothers strode up to me almost as soon as they noticed me staring. Edward growled ''Hey chestnut brat, while I'm sure that what just happened was an accident, it better not happen again if you don't want to be ditched on this island understand?'!' I nodded and dry gulped almost taking a step back before Alphonse put a restraining glove on the elder Elrics shoulder and gave him a knowing look.

Fullmetal inhaled deeply before continuing ''Also, we've decided we can't keep calling you kid all the time, even if you don't remember your name, Alphonse had a few Ideas as well as a few questions of his own that he feels we deserve for how transparent we've been with you.'' I frowned at the notion of being bothered by more questions for which I lacked any answers.  
Alphonse jumped in with ''How about Ramses or Reginald or Fyrsil?'' With my youthful ignorance and lack of any humility, I said ''Sure Ramses is fine but for short, you can call me Ram'' this brought a smile back to my face to my face which was quickly wiped off when Alphonse continued. ''Alright Ramses brother and I were wondering where are your parents, and where did you learn to perform alchemy like that?''

I sighed ''It must have been sometime before I came to this island but I don't remember anything from when I was smaller I promise, I want to but there's almost nothing there one day I woke up here alone and naked and I didn't even know who I was I was and I still don't!'' I had begun shouting without realizing it somehow I can remember what parents are but not who mine were or even what they looked like. Alphonse attempted to be comforting ''I'm sorry if it helps I barely remember my father'' Edward proceeded to snap at both of us ''That jerk is no father of mine, and quit it with the pity fest we came here to eat, not to mope, right?''

I walked around quietly and opened the boxes wincing when I realized Alphonse could not eat. We sat quietly for a while before I opened the conversation up myself by asking ''so how did you two make it to the island, the lake around here is huge and there are dangerous beasts in the forest'' this produced a round of cacophonous laughter for both of the Elrics but Al was the first to explain their amusement with Edward still struggling to suppress his amusement. ''There are no any beasts here fiercer than teacher, she could make a tiger run with its tail between its legs. We came by boat obviously'' Edward was perceptive enough to notice that I was still confused and so decided to demonstrate rather poorly for me what a boat was by constructing a model of one out of the stony gravel surrounding us.

When I asked how a such a heavy thing like that could float he explained that real boats were not really made of stone. ''So how do you make one of them move?'' ''People move the small ones with oars'' explained Edward and the big ones are pushed with paddle wheels and sails, you shouldn't worry about big ships though because Amestris is a landlocked country'' expounded Alphonse. What followed was a lengthy discussion of geography and basic entry politics for the region, as well as all of us discovering that the sun was setting and that we were all fairly thirsty. So we all walked to the nearest stretch of coastline to set up camp and collect water.

Naturally, along the way, I asked ''So Alphonse your hollow right? why don't you just use your body to collect water?'' Edward looks at me with such surprise that I wondered If I had somehow asked why Edward couldn't fly before responding with ''Al could die like that his soul is bonded to his armour with a blood seal'' I scarcely knew what to say in response so I sat back down and watched as Edward then started a fire with some sticks and a flint struck against his arm, meanwhile Alphonse went off to gather firewood.  
After Edward and I created the fire I brought over some buckets and we began gathering water. It was then when we were in close proximity that Edward saw the scar on my arm, or rather his commandeered arm. Shock spread over his face and he reached out to touch my bicep with his automail I flinch from the cold and he asks in a stilted whisper as if most of the air had left his lungs: ''Ram how did you get that scar?'' Touched by what I viewed at the time as his sympathy ''I am glad you are so concerned Edward but I really don't know how it happened, it was there when I woke up on the island, for all I know maybe my parents abused me or I fell on some sharp rocks-'' Edward cut me off with ''I think I know how you got that scar Ramses that spot is right where a fox bit my arm!''

I was shocked and confused by the implied accusation, I took a step back and tripped on a rock embedded in the silt falling backwards with a shout, despite being relativity shallow water at the time I was even shorter than Edward and my wooden shell was cumbersome and rapidly filling with water I tried righting myself flailing my limbs while screaming I must have splashed Edward in the face because he seemed unable to respond. Next thing I heard was the of sound logs dropping on the sand and the creak of metal against metal, I saw Alphonse before passing out.  
When I next woke I felt warm and dry and did not open my eyes for a few minutes finding the dull red of the back of my eyelids comforting enough in combination with the crackle of the campfire. Then I heard the brothers talking among themselves. ''Whatever else he may be he's still a harmless child Ed! He even helped feed you while we've been here...'' spoke the voice of Alphonse.

''Helped us? He nearly smashed you yesterday with a boulder, besides he's a homunculus and none of them have ever helped After he tripped I was a flash of red from his right foot, I thought he had cut himself but when I looked at it it was the mark of the ouroboros.'' Alphonse growled back ''What happened before was an accident I'm sure..and maybe he's different from them?'' Edward shot back ''Or maybe it's some sort of trick to-'' At this point I had had enough I sat up suddenly(the brown robes Alphonse put me in made this fairly easy) and cried out (causing Edward to jump a bit)''look I'm sorry, maybe I'm different than you, a homunucufus  
or however you say it but I never meant to hurt or trick any of you, besides Al is different from you too more so than me-''

This apparently touched some sort of nerve with Edward: ''Do not bring Al into this! '' Alphonse himself tried to step in with a reproachful utterance of ''''Brother?'' but Edward was a steam-train of fear and indignation at this point ''If you really mean us no harm prove it! He snarled. '' by this point, I had stood up and I nearly sobbed ''I'll do anything to prove it to you!'' Edward pressed on: ''Anything huh? Why don't you tie yourself to a tree and then we'll talk!'' I nodded and actually began converting my robe into rope when Alphonse intervened. ''Both of you stop! Ramses I believe you but you don't have to do everything Edward says, and brother you're right to be cautious but this...boy hasn't done anything to us at all, you should give him a chance!''

Edward breathed in deeply although his expression failed to soften entirely, he replies ''Fine but if you leave one scratch on my brother I'll hit you so hard you'll learn about the stratosphere!'' I nod pretty vigorously and position myself behind Alphonse though not at a distance from which I could easily reach out and touch him. Edward returned to the campfire and curled up, although he was clearly not asleep. Alphonse turned and seemed about to join him when I whispered: Hey Al, the fires getting low maybe we could collect a few more logs?'' Clearly not completely understanding he whispered back ''but dawn is only a few hours away?

Suddenly it seemed to dawn on him when he more loudly proclaimed''Yeah I suppose we could use some more firewood'' after we had walked far enough that I was certain we were out of earshot of Edward I congratulated the metal giant at my side:''Thank you for standing up for me Alphonse I knew someone like you would understand what I was going through. Anyways, brought you out here not because I hate your brother but because I don't want to alarm him with my abilities. Alphonse objected ''but Ram he has already seen all of your abilities he won't be anymore freaked out I'm sure'' I am fairly confident that I proved him wrong by melding most of myself into a tree in order to bend it (me )over in order to reach and chop down its branches with the sharpened fingers on my left hand. I will admit it was a bit difficult to un-fuse and I promptly vomited as a result of my stomach literally snapping back into place. '

'Are you alright?'' asked al, I quickly reassured him ''I'll be fine, it's just I am not used to doing that intentionally on such a large scale. Thus we returned to camp with an excessive load of firewood or so it seemed at the time.  
After all the commotion I was exhausted and I slept poorly. My dreams were invaded with Images of chimeras and Edward and An Edward faced chimera chasing me across the island screaming at me ''Let me take back my limbs you homuonculus thief !'' while Alphonse pelted me with logs screaming ''you hurt my brother, I'll stick you inside me forever!'' thankfully the dream ended as I leaped over a cliff to escape them.

I woke up screaming not long after sunset. Edward merely moaned ''Keep it down I'm not ready to get up yet.'' I looked around and noticed that Alphonse was missing. ''Where did Al go?'' I wondered aloud. Edward mumbled back ''He's probably out foraging for us...do you even need to eat?'' ''I think so...I know a great spot, I ought to show it to him, I'll be back soon!'' and with that, I leaped off into the canopy. I scoured almost all the forest before realizing that Alphonse was probably on the coast fishing. Almost another hour passed before I found him spearfishing in the shallows up to his waist in water...his catch had clearly been meagre or else he would have been on his way back by now.

I called down to him from the trees ''Hey, I know a better spot!". He jumped around startled and called back ''Ram? Where are you?'' I would be lying if said I didn't enjoy confounding him at least a little bit. After a few more confused seconds passed I leaped down from the trees ''Here I am Alphonse!'' He replied with ''Thanks Rameses but honestly, we won't need to worry about this much longer.'' I look at him In a very perplexed manner and ask, ''Well why not?'' ''Because teacher, I mean you could probably call her Izumi should be back soon she might have a temper but she rarely stays mad for more than a day'' after giving him a strange look he picked up on my confusion and continued''Oh yeah about that we are here...on what amounts to a punishment detail" said Alphonse as he awkwardly rubbed his collar. We began our march towards my fish pond along the way I asked ''So whats this Izumi like when she's not mad?'' Alphonse was quiet for a few moments while he thought it over he put on a fairly cheerful tone when he responded''Oh, well she's a very kind woman but she can be stern, she always has good advice to give and I'm sure she'd be willing to help you until you get your memories back''

I could already smell the fish and I knew we were getting close still I slowed my pace to listen to the sounds of the forest and to listen to the soft slap of my calloused but bare feet and the clinking crunch Alphonse sabatons against the forest floor. I had prepared myself enough mentally for my next question to part my lips ''What about my status as a humonculus?'' Alphonse began moving as though his joints had rusted over: ''we don't have to tell her Immediately...I'm sure she'd be accepting...with time,'' Alphonse replied although his tone sounded anything but assured. Eventually we crested the ridge and I turned my back not wanting to watch the necessary depredation of my fish stock. I put enough effort into that I may as well have called it a hobby but not letting my friends starve took priority.

Later I was to learn that around this time Izumi would suffer from a particularly bad episode of vomiting that day and had decided to blame it upon the stress the Elrics had recently place upon her, needless to say when asked the brothers thought this was an unfair accusation.

Eventually, we returned to camp to find Edward busy at work improving accommodations with some lean-tos and alchemically made blankets apparently giving up the self-imposed-prohibition on alchemy. ''Took you long enough'' he muttered ''While you two were out fishing or whatever I made us camp and found as a whole tubs worth of wild strawberries!'' I sigh replying with ''Yeah that great but we really ought to make our camp more visible from afar so Izumi can find us faster...maybe with more fires. ''I think it would be better if we used smaller torches, to cover more ground'' Alphonse chimed in.

Edward nodded ''Yeah that's a fine plan you two, but Ram, can I talk to you...in private ?'' This request caught me so off guard that it felt as though my heart skipped a beat. ''S-sure Edward!'' I stuttered out as though I was a shivering sea-dog about to leap into an orcas jaws on its captain's request.  
We sauntered down the beach until we were well out of Alphonse hearing range, well by Edwards estimation at any rate. I was prepared to be yelled at for my private excursions with his brother or perhaps asked for some embarrassing advice but what escaped from Edwards throat managed to once again through my reasoning off balance: ''I misjudged you Ramses, I apologize, with your talents you could have left this island at any time but you stayed and helped us even after the way I treated you.''  
I paused for a few moments before settling in for a pout''Well what Am I supposed to do now?!'' flabbergasted Edward mouthed a flat ''what'' before I continued ''If you are not mad at me anymore what am I supposed to fret about? I lightly admonished before giving a hearty wink to show I was nowhere near serious. Edward shrugged not especially amused but not willing to put up even more of a fuss and make himself look like a fool, which was probably also why he apologized to me privately. As we began walking back to camp apparently an idea captured his fancy.

With a deft tap on my shoulder, Edward whispered slyly ''If you're really looking for something to do how about turning our camp into proper living quarters. I jumped away from him before snapping out ''Look ed I appreciate the goodwill but I've never built anything much besides food stores when its dry I slept in the open when it was wet I slept in a cave,I- I'm no better at this than you are!'  
Edward clearly looking to avoid an argument responded ''Look fine just maintain what we have today, Alphonse and I can handle-...wait did you say this island has caves?'' I blinked not sure why he was so surprised before he quickly clarified the matter for me '' I was on this island for a month before how come I didn't notice any of these caves myself?'' I thought about this for a moment before explaining that the caves were relatively hidden and that it took me a while to locate them myself. We then returned to the camp where Edward cheerfully began cheerfully informing his brother: ''Hey Al, Ramses claims to have found some caves I say we do some spelunking!''  
''You can't be serious Ed, what if I don't fit and what about the torches if we are in a cave how will teacher find us?''

I quickly attempt to reassure Alphonse ''When you two finish exploring I promise I'll light all the signal fires you could ever want and worst case scenario if you don't fit we could disassemble you, Alphonse.'' Edward promptly shoved me in the ribs and I added in quickly'' But it shouldn't come to  
that.'' As we made our way around the coast towards the cave's mouth Edward complained ''my ports ache'' ''we had best hurry then'' I suggested. I beg to notice the drop in temperature and as we approached the cave utterance I gathered up some logs and moss to craft some torches from. Just as we entered the cave the first drops of rain began to fall and the steadily strengthening breeze drew up deeper into the cave.

''This is hardly a cave at all, with less than 5 chambers this place makes me feeling tall'' Edward facepalmed at his own gaffe before quickly continuing on'' there is barely anything in here but at least most of it is dry ' Edward finished. ''I guess I am stuck here ''sighed Alphonse.  
''That is not true, we are here with you until this storm ends, I promise'' I said. ''That's fine and all but they're hardly anything we can do here in the meantime'' While I light and set down a few more torches I ''We could always tell stories to pass the time, I suggest you go first Edward since I don't have much to tell unless you want to hear about the forest beast that stalked the outside of the lake' ''but Ram this part of dublith is pretty safe, no-ones seen bears here in over fifty years'' shot back Alphonse.

''I bet he's making the whole thing up' ''Am not! Do you want to hear the story or not ?!'' They both nodded their heads and before long both had learned of my encounter with the beast of Kauroy forest.  
Next it was Edwards turn to entertain me and so he began by recounting the time he and his brother had spent in a town known as Reole or Lior depending on who you asked ''Six months ago my brother and I were sent to this town in the east to investigate its strange going ons, we had heard that this fellow known as father cornello was performing rather miraculous acts there and while they were hardly miraculous by the standard definition of the word they were indeed unusual...'' and so he droned on conveniently brushing over the involvement of the homunculi and the philosophers stone like it was not especially important to the tale being told. I nodded along to tired to especially object.

''Alphonse do you have any stories to share with us I said through a yawn making it sound as if I said ''soories'' Alphonse replied '' I know a tale that I am sure few besides my brother will know, the tale of the blind alchemist. Once about a year ago early in our journey we heard a rumor of a man who had successfully performed human transmutation but had lost his eyes in the process, so we met with the fine gentleman called Jude and he seemed like a fine man and indeed a talented alchemist but his revived daughter was even quieter than you ram, and it turned out that she wasn't his real daughter at all because the girl he made barely moved at all and had pink hair completely unlike the girl we knew, but it turned out that Jude really thought he was successful because he couldn't see that the girl was a fake.''

Afterwards, we all settled in for the rest of the day and night, although that story made me feel deeply uneasy I wondered if not only was I different like Alphonse was but whether I was supposed to be someone else and this life was a fraud...what if that was why I could not remember anything.  
When I dreamt It was of leaving the island and seeing the world with my new companions as I had slowly come to think of them. Of visiting cities which appeared in my young mind as giant pillars of rock with living spaces carved into them and riding over waters teeming with colorful fish some of which possessed Edwards head on a massive metal ship powered by a big wheel that spun so fast that a trail of mist wafted behind in the vessel's wake. I awoke to an echoing shouting, someone was calling out '' Edward, Alphonse?'' repeatedly as I forced my limbs which felt like they were made out of wet cement to move

I noticed that the younger brother had already left the cave and as Edward and I exited the cave I stopped in my tracks as though paralyzed, I felt the cool misty breeze pass through my raven hair, felt the moist sand between my toes and the smell of petrichor on my nose. I would never forget the moment when I first really met Izumi Curtis. The brothers had failed utterly to describe the deep layers of caring exude by this woman or the sadness in her eyes. I could hear the animated armour explain the situation to her but I could barely feel my feet shuffling forward ''and so we found this lost boy on the island and thought maybe you could look after him for a little while he awkwardly ramble on until shed carefully pulled him into an embrace that she sadly must have known the boy could not feel before Edward rushed up to her and spoke on my stunned behalf ''Teacher please Ramses may be a strange by but he has a good heart and at least a little sense-''

She cut him off although not too harshly ''Edward whoever this child is I'm not going harm him or abandon him for being himself'. I was by then only ten feet away but afraid to take another step closer, maybe it was my memories of the fierce tales the brothers circulated about this woman, maybe it was because she was almost twice as tall as me, or maybe it was just the look of both surprise and familiarity that briefly crossed her face when she looked at me but for that brief moment I was paralyzed. Reassuringly Izumi called ''Come on I have room for you too'' all my prior doubts were for a time washed away, I ran to her as fast as a startled roadrunner and embraced her belly just above the waist, nearly knocking her off balance although all she said was ''your a strong kid'' with small delicate smile as her hand caressed my ebony locks. Behind me, I could hear the approach of more figures but overtaken by the bliss of finally finding trust and comfort I did no care.

* * *

-This my first story, please try to gentle although harsh criticism as long as it is constructive criticism will be taken into account. Reviews would be greatly appreciated. Anyone who made it through this train-wreck has my greatest thanks.


	2. Chapter 2: Dreams

**Is everything okay, or did I do something wrong?**  
 **Chapter 2: Dreams**

* * *

I sit back in the plush chair watching the sturdy wooden ceiling fan stir the air and my hair slightly. Outside the sun is going down and I can smell a peach pie finishing In our new automatic oven. Winry looked up from her typewriter and asked ''Are you trying to tell me something with this silent treatment? ''Unfortunately for her I am off in my own head thinking about those newfangled flying machines, which after ten years had allowed an Amestrian pilot to travel around the equator despite aurego being dominant in the emerging field given their lack of restrictions on creating flying sapient chimeras who risked little in crashes. Winry tried again ''Hellooo? Earth to wrath, are we still on?' ''Um, yeah sort of...no, look we should really get back to this in a day or two I'm sure the shop could still use your advice on those silvered lungs and pressure resistant automailes you developed!''

She practically pouts, ''Wrath, you know most of the work is out my hands these days as a 'senior consultant', besides I don't mind sending time with you and you really need to stop feeling guilty about it, you know I don't blame you for what happened at all''. Her face resolves into a soft frown.  
I grimace and push back towards the original subject ''Alright we can keep going as long as you like Win this is about when I first met you after all, but...can I have a break to eat and collect my thoughts please?'' I practically begged. Her eyebrows shot up ''I almost forgot about the pies!'' she yelped before rushing back to the kitchen.

I giggle before standing up and striding across the soft green carpet of the room before bending down to reach the dials that would activate our television. Upon the screen plays a movie covering the dramatized events surrounding the fifth laboratory but for once actual chimeric actors were employed and seeming in a sympathetic...if patronizing light. I quickly switched to a news station covering events in drachma apparently in addition to their aeronautical progress some of the best telescopes yet seen were being built there. With the use of those same telescopes great rivers were found on our neighboring planet Erebus. The newscasters were excited about the possibility of us having Interplanetary neighbors or at least joy was what their faces expressed. Knowing the history of Amestris well I hoped they were wrong.

I watch the clock tick as it reaches 8PM. It is a newer clock with radium dials encased in a pale blue shatter-resistant glass It used xercian numerals to display the time and its face flipped to displayed a moon after six PM and slyly smiling sun after 6 am. I could not fathom why Winry would buy such a clock, it was hardly the most precise one out there if forced to ponder a guess I would have said its insides inspired her to keep tinkering.

Just at that moment Winry exits the kitchen carrying out two steaming peach pies. ''Wow you are sweet as always win'' I giggle out, charmed by her display. 'Well without your tartness, I doubt wed make such perfect pies'' she responded, she continued quickly ''Anyway I was wondering what made you decide to start this autobiography project now of all times?'' Through a mouthful of pie I questioned':

'What do you mean exactly?'' ''I mean you could have started almost any time after you helped catch Huskisson '' ''I wanted to give people enough time to think about what happened but not completely forget about it'' I answered evasively. "Its gotten quite late and theres no way im burdening you by sleeping here again''  
With a single stride I was at the door, I turned back, but winry look as thoguh she wa too tired to argue this night, which for oonce was fine with me.  
As I slipped through the door, I opened my umbrella. It had bee a while since I looked at it a big black, blue and red gaudy thing it was with a great serpentine dragon curling around a stylized lion while they were both surrounded by a circle of lightning, I felt suitably amused that I ever thought commissioning the thing was a good Idea.  
After about a quarter miles walk I could finally see my dwelling on the horizon.  
my dwelling was a small wooden shack with enough room for a kitchen, and a place to sleep and that was just about it. I settled onto my soft futon and pulled on a heavy blanket, hoped the roof wouldn't leak and tried to fall asleep.  
…...All good things must come to an end and so my first embrace with my creator(not that I knew this and It would not be for a long time before I acknowledged her as a mother) did at the pleading of a young blond mechanic crying out not for me but for Edward. So it was that I met Winry Rockbell. Izumi's warmth left me as she looked up at wineries apprehensive spluttering ''Edward, Alphonse are you okay, Edward please tell me you didn't break your auto maile again, you didn't get sand inside you, Alphonse, right? and responded by calmly asserting ''Its only been a few days I am sure the damage is minimal, more importantly, I think they made a new friend'' I tried hiding behind Izumi when I was mentioned not knowing what to expect from this newcomer. Izumi stepped aside revealing my cowering form.

Edward attempted to direct the conversation back towards himself with a slightly embarrassed''Actually Winry my fingers-''Winry quickly hushed Edward(who made a quietly annoyed huff in response, earning him a glare), before bending down in an attempt to appear less intimidating while addressing me'' Shh Ed, Its alright little man, my name is Winry Rockbell, I'm Edwards friendly automaile mechanic, who are you?'' ''Everyone calls me Ramses'' I carefully remove my arms from my head figuring if she going to it she already would have'' So Ramses do you know where your parents are?'' Again the unanswerable questions began to rear their grimy heads. I clenched my fists and breathed in through my teeth preparing to explain my by now very annoying state of amnesia. I was preempted by Alphonse calling out to her ''Winry he doesn't remember anything, its best if you-'' this was enough'''Hey let me speak for myself!'' I growled, albeit also flushing with embarrassment over being reminded of how abnormal I was yet again.

Winry cocked her head and asked me ''Is that really true? 'A look of doubt and concern compressed her features and pitched her voice. I turned on my heel and kicked the wet sand in front of me as though it was at fault before truthfully admitting: ''Yes it is true, and its horrible, and I don't want to talk about right now.'' I could hear the approach of a paddle-boat in the distance as Mason pulled closer. Before anyone else could speak (and Edward seemed to really be eager to given his foot tapping) Izumi announced ''I'll help look after the boy until his situation is resolved.'' I was overwhelmed with joy, I knew I was finally going to see the world and at least some of the people in it really did care about me. Edward and Winry chattered about his metal arm while Alphonse helped Mason uncouple the boats that would take me to my new home. Izumi offered me her hand In entering the larger boat along with herself and Alphonse. At first, I tried standing but she pulled me down, although not to harshly to avoiding disturbing the vessel's balance.

The trip across the lake was short and fairly quiet all the recent excitement exhaustion had snuck up on Edward, with Winry gently trying to coax him to keep his head up. Meanwhile, Alphonse was busy rowing, I thought it was amazing how strong he could be without even a single muscle he seemed as though he might never tire. Yet despite this, he was quiet as though afraid that speaking might destroy something intangible about the moment. When Izumi tentatively wrapped an arm around me I admit I was slightly startled, having practically drifted off watching the ripples and dips on the lakes otherwise silky smooth surface, but I calmed almost immediately and at her concerned look managed a large smile, even if its size was not reflective of the mere contentment I felt at that moment. She spoke softly ''How would you like if we got you out of those rags and into something...more fitting, maybe even get you a warm shower?'' Despite not really knowing what she was talking about I nodded along and smiled, more gently this time, since none of it sounded bad coming from her but I still felt tempted to ask ''Whats a shower, and how do you make it warm?'' Izumi laughed ''I'm sorry but Winry Is more of an engineer than I. She could better explain how it works, but its a way to move warm water onto people so they don't stay, did I mention you'll also get a hot meal?''

''Wow, that sounds really great!'' This time she did not laugh but simply smiled and responded ''You'll get along well with my husband then.'' Before very long we reached land and at that point, Alphonse offered to carry me to quicken our pace, with me being the shortest person in the party at that point, I accepted for the sake of the view this afforded me. It felt like we had been walking for about a mile when we finally exited the forest. Behind me, I could hear Edward apologizing to Winry ''Listen Winry I'm sorry for getting you worried over practically nothing...''I think I may have strained some of the finger joints.'' Alphonse asked ''hey teacher why were left on yock island so long? This time we expected you to be back sooner?'' Izumi looked saddened and then amused but before she could respond mason tried to cover for her: ''We had a sudden surge in demand at the meat shop, besides she knew you could handle yourselves out there, especially you Ed.'' Izumi quickly corrected mason stating that while it was true that there had in fact been more demand, it was not from out of town and she stayed behind after feeling ill having planned on returning sooner.

Eventually, we reached the outskirts of dublith and from there, it hardly took us any time at all to reach the Curtis household and meat shop, an impressive edifice it was was. The building was certainly the largest dwelling I had ever seen until now. For a while we were left to wait in the living room. After plopping down into a nearby chair I had the opportunity to ask a few questions to my present companions. I started with the short blonde"" um Edward are you staying here, what about your brother's thing?'' Edward pinched the bridge of his nose ''Ram just for future reference everyone here knows about what we did and what Alphonse is'' Alphonse piped up ''If we stay for a little while well be able to feel restored and be able to help Izumi.'' Edward quickly but quietly responded: '' Al, you, you know she.. you know what your right. so never-mind, anyway we've been following this guy known as scar we've heard rumors that he might be returning to Ishbal and that he might have information on the philosophers stone which we hope will be enough to figure out how to restore our bodies."  
''I'm right about what?'' Alphonse inquired.

''Your right she isnt our teacher anymore, it just sound weird when you say it is all''.  
Edward closed his eyes and with a small yawn he said ''we've been busy for a while Al do you think you could pick us up some newspapers and '' with a small amount of nearly playful bickering Alphonse was persuaded to leave. Thus I was alone with a half asleep edward and a somewhat bored looking winry . I figured I would ask a few questions''Winry what exactly does an automaile mechanic do? Her eyes lit up almost instantly. ''Well I fix peoples legs well, the metal ones at least, and arms too if they need it and I build more of them. I'm not directy involved in pricing and distibution though''  
I was very much interested with the idea of being able to put people back together, literally  
''that sounds really cool, I wish I could do something like that!''  
Winry half giggled. Just as we were finally building a rapport, Sigmund popped in  
''Hey, Win this kid said he's never had a chance at a shower why don't you give one? Oh and by the way Izumi should lunch ready by the time you're done. If you need me I'll be fixing up the shop for tomorrow''.

It was thus that I had my first encounter with the famous shower. I approached with caution as though I was stalking a viper until Winry  
chided/admonished ''Ramses it's not going to hurt to get wet, see?'' She started the water running and stuck her arm into it, immediately grimacing from the cold she quickly adjusted the temperature and smiling announced that it was warming up, before long I built up the nerve to step inside and I closed my eyes letting the warm water wash over me admittedly it tickled a little when It reached my belly and thighs but otherwise it was indeed very nice.

''Alright then let's get your wild mane tamed little man! '' she announced as she began sudzing my hair which was also pleasant although she warned me ''don't get any of this stuff in your eyes or mouth okay?'' as we were drying off. ''Do you think you could do that on your own next time?'' she asked I responded ''Sure, it doesn't seem that hard but why?'' She gave a rather convincing lie

Later that night as I lay in my new bed trying to sleep a mouse crept into my room, I did not notice until I found it sniffing my face startled by the sudden tickle I fell out of bed and in trying to scramble backwards and accidentally merged myself into the floor such that I could barely move disoriented, fatigued and scared I screamed. The Elric brothers were the first to enter the scene, Edward called: ''Ram what happened?!''

I tried pushing forward and got one arm still smothered with wood from the floorboards free with a horrific ripping noise''I don't know there was a mouse on my face and I jumped and then I was in the floor and then I was scared so I tried to pull out but it hurts to pull too much and..and I'm sorry'' tears rolled down my cheeks, I felt hopelessly embarrassed and overwhelmed. Edward glanced at his bother and loudly whispered ''Al, keep teacher out of here please!'' Briefly, I could hear Alphonse clanking down the hall.

For a brief moment I was alone with Edward and fear and hope merged into an anticipatory tension as I looked him while he tried to gather his thoughts, he then spoke clearly and quickly ''Listen I don't like the situation you've put me in, I'd like my limbs back, but I don't see that happening soon and I am now certain you never tried to trick us, even a plan from gluttony would be more convincing than this. So I tell you what, I'm a state certified alchemist, I'm sure with a little quick thinking I can get you out of this mess.'' ''With Alchemy?'' I tentatively ask, Edward shoots ''Of course, all I need to do it convert the wood to sawdust and you shouldn't be stuck in it anymore, now where can I draw a cir-'' I cry back, ''but ed Think maybe parts of me are wood now, I don't want to become dust!''

At that moment I can hear Izumi and Alphonse arguing in the hall outside: ''Let me thou6gh Alphonse, I need to see what's going on was followed by''Nothings going on Ramses just saw a mouse and yelped is all'' Izumi did not sound impressed ''More like a larger rat for him to scream like that'' Alphonse struggled to hold back the tide ''If he's so scarred I still ought to help calm him down.'' Simultaneously to this commotion Edward had proceeded to draw aa circle and was hastily adding symbols inside of it, before I could pipe up again he explained ''This circle will separate wood from metal, concrete and other common architectural materials it will leave the wood and your flesh in place ut without you being nailed down you should be able to move again.''  
The dam burst. With a shout of ''I insist on seeing him'', and a burst of alchemy that buckled the floor and left Alphonse on his steel buttocks Izumi was in the room. The sound of tens of pounds of steel hitting the floor could be heard throughout the house.

Upon spotting me in my bizarre state of being half cocooned in the floorboards and surrounded by an alchemic circle Izumi seemed to blanch, then fury and confusion in her eyes she opened her mouth ''Edward, what on earth are you doing to this poor child?!'' she shouted, Edward in a suddenly squeaky voicewhile quickly backing away, responded '' It's not what it looks like! I was only trying to help him out of this!'' ''Quiet! I don't want to hear your excuses now'' she barked at him before bending down and smiling kindly at me. ''Now little one can you remember your original form? If you just relax and focus on it it will come back to you'' I nodded and focused on envisioning myself as I was before I got stuck in the floor. Amazingly this actually seemed to work, I could feel my limbs receding and smoothing I could hear the wood shedding off me it fell with a hard dull thunk.

When I opened my eyes I was nearly overwhelmed with joy. As I sat there stunned tears streaming down my face a few things happened at once. First Alphonse Elric stood up and entered the room at the same time I could hear heavy footfalls coming down the hall. We both attempted to speak and stumbled over ourselves. ''listen,-'' and ''I'm sorry'' collided with each other as I attempted to minimize the whole ordeal and the Elric brothers attempted to pin all the blame on themselves. Sig burst into the room to see three panicked boys, a broken floor, alchemy circles and his annoyed wife. He blurted out in confusion ''What's all this? Was someone hurt?''

Before any of us young lads could properly defend ourselves I was shocked to see Izumi cover for us, mostly me or so I rationalized later ''The young boy we took in, Ramses, asked our students for some help with alchemy, Alphonse tripped over and and I was annoyed to be awoken in the middle of the night, nothing to worry about honey.'' This was all technically true although it hardly conveyed what had happened at all.

'' Alright but we can't let you sleep in here kid, er Ramses he said looking down towards the wood splinters now flung all over the room'' ''I'm sure we can clean this up!'' Alphonse volunteered Izumi sighed ''I'm sure you can in the morning right now with the lighting as it is It will only make things worse. Now get back to your rooms, we will talk about this in the morning!'' she snapped at both of them, at first Edward looked like he was going to start a new argument but quickly he relented, leaving me alone with Sig and Izumi. Sig spoke first ''Listen I've got a mat elsewhere in the house You can sleep with Izumi tonight, but if you need any help with finding the bathroom or you get hungry its probably best that you ask me. Izumi might be one tough lady but shes had a very rough day. Also, I am sorry about those Elric boys they get their noses into everything'' I quickly attempted to reassure him its okay Mr. Sig but thank you for trying to help, everyone's been doing that a lot lately even though I don't really need much help.''

Sig felt like giving some advice in response: ''Kid, everyone needs help, even me a gown financially successful man wouldn't be able to get everything done on my own without Izumi supporting me and mason keeping up with supply our shop would go out of business, don't tell him that though he might get some grand ideas in his head''

So it was that she carried me into her bedroom. Later she seemed to notice that I lay awake even by her side after an hour as my eyes finally began to droop she asked ''Is there something wrong little one?'' With a small yawn I whispered back to

her ''I don't know what a homunculus is...do you?'' I could feel her jerk a little and her arm which had been reached towards me I presume in case I was to take her hand wrapped around my scarred shoulder. Se was quiet for a few seconds before asking ''Where did you hear that word Ramses?'' ''Edward mentioned it before we left the island, he said 'He's a homunculus none of them have ever helped' but I helped so that didn't make any sense at all and he wouldn't talk about at it at all after'' now Izumi sat up and pulled me into a soft embrace, I could not see her face but her words seemed tinged with melancholy: ''Sweet thing, whatever you hear tomorrow morning, just try to remember a few things, okay?' ''What things? ''I questioned, confused and groggy. ''Whatever is said, remember, you did nothing wrong, I love you and will protect you, and there is nothing wrong with who or what you are. Okay?''

Before very long I found myself drifting into the temporary oblivion of sleep. Yet again it was punctuated by a dream. This time I was back on the island in the clearing where I first woke up, everything seemed the same same except the stone and dirt circle was seemingly replaced by a large round door set into the ground its surface was made of ebony wood and it possessed an off white knob, It looked like ivory or carved bone and it had two twisted humanoid figures etched into its surface.

Where the door connected to the ground the soil became shinier, and smoother and stretched around its edges like taught skin. I could hear something rattling beneath the door I then heard a wet thunk hit the door and I saw the knob begin to move, I was overwhelmed with dread and the feeling that I should not let this door open so I leaped up upon it and tried to hold the knob still while pressing my full weight onto the side of the door. I could still feel the knob turning and in desperation I released one of my hands from the knob and tried to alchemically force the earth over the door but the soil responded sluggishly a and flowed upwards like a wave of syrup or taffy. The door slammed open with enough force that it threw me backwards with enough force that I collided with the dirt wall I created just as it nearly smothered the open doorway. I was covered in mud, and the gate was open the dirt falling through it. I looked down and saw two eyes staring up up at me, one a pale blue almost grey, the other a reddish purple, as soon as I saw them a huge limb ending in a many fingered, jet black hand launched from the hole in front of me, aiming right for my face, I woke up wide eyed and stifling a scream.

My eyes darted around the room, the first thing I noticed was the empty bed Izumi must have left.(later I realized that she must have started making breakfast), the next thing I noticed was that sun was already streaming through the window and that the room was rather sparse. There was the bed I was now getting out of and there was a large closet to the left side of the bed, but at the other end of the room there was only a mirror and a framed photograph of Sig and his wife, oddly enough the photograph's frame was made of metal and was in the shape of two bears sitting such that their hind legs formed the bottom of the frame, their surprisingly thin torsos made up the sides while their outstretched forelimbs made up the top of the frame. Lastly at the foot of the bed was a basket full of fresh clothes from their size I figured these were meant for me a bright green shirt with dark green long sleeves, and a pair of light brown shorts with large button up pockets at their sides.

As I left the bedroom eager to discover what Izumi was doing I heard her call out from near the front of the house ''breakfast is ready! You boys better eat up!'' I got there just in time to see Edward already at the table with a plate Alphonse instead had a newspaper that looked small in his hands. I ran into the room and practically leaped onto the table before slowing down at the realization that this would likely send Edwards breakfast across the room. Instead, I merely jumped in place once before going to the only open seat, which I had assumed was intended for me.

Edward stared at me and was probably about to ask me why I was so excited when Izumi began talking. She shot us all a serious look before briefly starting speech 'First I would like to thank my husband sig for getting all the ingredients out for me last night'' -her cheery smile immediately vanished'-'and second, you may have all already figured that this was not a normal breakfast from my words last night.' She paused seemingly to make sure we were all paying attention'

When Alphonse looked up from his copy of the South City Herald she continued. ''From this point onward it would likely be in all your best interests if the words of this meeting do not leave this room''''Hey wait a second what are you trying to say?'' Edward blurted out in a panic. 'Yeah if its so important, why cant we tell winry about it shes with us a lot so if its something we need to worry about wouldn't it be safer for her to know too?' ''I'm trying to say that your new friend is special, he is a homunculus .' silence gripped the room for a moment, I was still pretty hungry so I used the opportunity to here surprise to take a bite out of my sausage.

Then the silence was broken by Alphonse: ''We're sorry teacher, we already knew but Ramses did nothing wrong, we thought you would be angry.'' Ed glancing down to try and hide his face asked ''How did you know, and what do you plan on doing?" Now I put my fork down, ready to pay close attention. ''I knew because no human alchemist should be able to bond themselves to wood and reconstruct themselves with no effort and a boy living on an island with no training whatsoever should not know how to perform alchemy without a circle''' she inhaled strongly as if she was preparing for a difficult bit of exertion. ''The boy needs a mother until he can learn to function in our world Sigmund and I will take care of him''

I leaped halfway onto the table right knee on the table left foot on the chair arms sprawled ''Are any of you actually going to tell me what a homunculus is?'! I nearly shouted. The Elric brothers looked towards me as if only now noticing my presence then they looked towards each other as if each expected the other to speak first. Finally, their teacher spoke for them: 'Ramses It means that you are stronger than a bear, you could probably race a horse or even one of those fancy new racing cars and still come out in the lead, for you fossilitis might be like the common cold and you could outlive all of us.''

I sat back down with a thunk and giggled, surprised and elated ''This is great, I could protect all my friends for as long as I live'' I joyously proclaimed. '' It's not great!'' snapped ed, before covering his head as though in pain, Alphonse put an arm around him and looked around clearly not sure what to say. Yet again the housewife spoke for them ''Ramses, what I think Edward is trying to say is that it is not safe for you outside, lots of bad people might want your power for themselves and there's no telling what they might do to get it.''

The rest of the meal was a subdued affair, I felt almost overwhelmed, I wanted to ask who these nasty people were, what she expected me to do if I should pretend to be someone else...and yet the timing felt off. ''Thanks for the meal Izumi'' I said before practically running back to the spare bedroom I had slept in the first night to think.

* * *

Authors Note: I am really sorry that this is late!, I am sorry a family emergency stalled me last weekend! Also keeping up with college work while getting any sleep has been harder than I thought it would be.


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